the combo system has turned out to be much more interesting than i’d originally thought, and i was more struck by the considerations of matching both horizontally and vertically than the first time around, although this rendition of the game itself didn’t grab me enough for me to want to invest a whole lot of time mastering the ins and outs of it. the presentation is perfectly fine for a game boy game, in terms of the graphics and sound, but the number of options is quite minimal, pretty much just your basic solo and vs. modes. i beat level 20 on the medium difficulty, but the higher levels of the high difficulty setting were incredibly cheap. i didn’t mention this in my previous post on the NES version, but as with that game at these levels the viruses are stacked so high that it really feels like it’s just a matter of luck whether or not you’ll be able to get the stack down to a point where you can actually just play the game instead of scrambling blindly. i don’t doubt that there are some dr. mario masters out there who can pwn even this level of difficulty, but for the average player it just feels unfair.

not much more to add. the game is a good portable version of the original NES classic, but with a host of modern alternatives this is a game that can be skipped over except by the most OCD of nintendo fans (like me) or those who have the nostalgia factor to contend with.

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radar mission is an early game boy game (released about 6 months after that system’s launch) that was well on its way to fading into obscurity before the 3DS came along. since then the game has gotten renewed attention for two reasons: one, its “spiritual sequel”, steel diver, was one of the launch games for that system; and two, it was released on the 3DS’s virtual console just a few months after the 3DS debuted. the game had been on my radar well before then, though, because it was developed by nintendo R&D1, the group led by the legendary gunpei yokoi. yokoi and R&D1 were responsible for many of nintendo’s early games, including the first metroid and wario land games, and i’ve been slowly working my way through their entire output.

anyway, enough history, how’s the game? well, there’s a reason most people have never heard of it. the game consists of two distinct and pretty much completely unrelated parts. the first is simply the game known as battleship in which you place your ships on a grid and try to defeat your opponent by taking turns guessing where their ships have been hidden. the game adds some minor enhancements including an option to have near misses reported; this option makes the otherwise completely luck-based and dull game more palatable, but it still doesn’t make the game worthwhile and i quickly moved on to the second mode.

the second mode is much more entertaining. in it you take control of a submarine and in a first-person perspective you look out through your periscope, move through the water, fire torpedoes at ships, and evade enemies by ducking underwater. this mode in particular includes some impressive visuals and unusually good music, but, again, the gameplay is extremely limited and my interest in this mode was very short-lived.

not much more to say. the game only warranted a small amount of time, but it’s an interesting bit of nintendo history and it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to steel diver (although i have to admit i don’t really have high hopes about it based on my early experiences with that game). we’ll see.

the N64 game sin and punishment was fairly well known among nintendo devotees as a highlight of the system, even though it was only released in japan. the game received more attention when it was released on wii’s virtual console in october 2007 in north america, and a few months later when one of its main characters, saki, appeared as an assist trophy in super smash bros. brawl. both were probably in preparation for the release of a sequel to the game, sin and punishment: star successor, two years later (in june 2010 in north america).

phew. with that out of the way, although i had downloaded the original game ages ago i only recently got around to playing through it. although the original voice overs were in english, the new translation of the tutorial for the virtual console rerelease removes any possible remaining roadblocks. the game’s controls do take some getting used to, but the game includes several different control options, and they work quite well on the gamecube and classic controllers (and no doubt on the original N64 controller also).

my experience with run ‘n gun-type shooters has been limited to 2-D games, mostly focused on the contra series, but the game is immediately enjoyable. i started off on the normal mode, but realized it would be easier to learn the ins and outs of the game on easy mode first. finishing easy mode isn’t completely trivial, and the thrills come at a pretty constant rate thanks in large part to the extensive amount of boss battles. the highlight of the game is without a doubt level 2-1, in which you zoom around an aircraft carrier on a hovercraft, but there’s a lot to enjoy even outside of the boss battles.

there’s some cheapness and the second half of the game (including the side-scrolling stage near the end) is definitely not as brilliant as the first, and the story is completely nonsensical and impossible to follow. still, all in all this is an excellent game and ends up earning a place fairly high on my list of best N64 games. don’t be put off by people claiming that the game is too short. although there are only 7 stages including the prologue, beating the normal mode will definitely take more practice. i didn’t manage to beat all of the normal mode, but i left it for another day because i’m more eager to play through the sequel; the wii is absolutely ideal for this gameplay. by all accounts it sounds like the sequel improves on the original in every way, so given the amount i enjoyed this game i’m definitely looking forward to it.

i’ve developed into quite a fan of the warioware series, and despite having no video game buddies i decided to go back and give wario ware, inc.: mega party game$! a quick run-through. the game is a bit odd in that it’s an expansion of the original warioware game for GBA (my review of that game is here) with a focus on multiplayer rather than a true sequel.

the single-player mode is somewhat tedious since you have to play through every character’s games (usually 25) to progress rather than a subset as in the original. this mode doesn’t feature the fun cartoon intros and unlockable toys and games of the original either, or any new microgames, so it’s all pretty barebones. still, it was nice to revisit all the microgames, although playing through all of them did highlight the ones that are anomalously difficult and/or obtuse. there are a couple of new unlockables in the form of a “master” (i.e. marathon) mode in which you play through all 204 of the microgames (it doesn’t include the 9 boss battles) and see how many you can get, and two random minimalistic music videos (which can be seen here and here, lyrics at the bottom of this page). the most worthwhile single-player addition is a time attack mode where you try to complete 20, 40, or 60 microgames in the least amount of time (for every one you win the speed goes up and for every one you lose the speed goes down).

despite not having anyone to play with i also sampled all the multiplayer options. they’re pretty much all variations of “who can win the most microgames”, but there’s an entertaining 1-controller survival mode featuring a rainbow of tingle-esque suited characters, and an othello-based board game that requires a bit of strategy beyond just winning microgames. the entry at mariowiki.com has a good run-down of all the modes.

not having been able to play much of the multiplayer games leaves me not being too qualified to comment any further, but at some point i may come back to this. i’m not quite sure how much “pick up and play” gameplay this offers, however, since people who have played through the original or the single-player mode will be at a distinct advantage, but it was fun to see the games on the big screen and it’s whetted my appetite for the handful of warioware games left that i haven’t played yet.

i’ve been meaning to work my way through some of the earliest NES games, several of which are available in the gamecube version of animal crossing. (it’s been a while, but if anyone is interested the other two NES via animal crossing games i’ve played and reviewed previously are pinball and balloon fight.) in this particular case, the game was tennis, one of the US NES’s launch titles, but also one of the earliest releases for the original japanese famicom.

it took me quite a few attempts to get into the game enough to give it a fair chance, but my progression through the game was not unlike my experience with the original f-zero on SNES or the original punch-out!! (the mario as referee cameo apparently isn’t the only similarity between the two games). specifically, the game is perfectly amiable as it starts off, but soon gets brutally difficult. in the case of tennis the game starts off being somewhat hard to get into because at first it’s difficult to judge how far the ball is from the racket and where it’s going to land, but after a session i think most people would be able to master the basics. the controls are simple (the A button is for a regular shot and the B button is for a lob), and the difficulty is fairly smooth up to the third level (of five). levels 4 and 5, however, are pretty brutal.

the problem isn’t just that the AI is too good (which it is), but that at the higher levels you’ll have to do more than just return the ball to win. winning then requires a huge amount of trial and error and subsequently memorization in order to not only figure out how to make the computer opponent mess up, but how to master the intricacies of the gameplay. angling your returns becomes essential, but it’s easy to go out of bounds, an aspect of the real game that most other tennis video games don’t include. you’ll end up learning how to hit the ball extremely close to the boundaries of the court in order to win points. playing the net and hitting a volley (before the ball bounces) become more important as well, and the former becomes a real test of patience as hitting close to the net all too often results in hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds. the computer opponent, of course, is a master at playing the net, and will taunt you with his effortless, superhuman skill.

the majority of reviewers have taken the easy way out and just written off the game as being completely outdated, but at the lower levels the game is actually a lot of fun and i bet that if you put in the trial + error + memorize time to master the “advanced” moves the higher levels would be enjoyable as well. there is a definite sense of satisfaction when you do manage to execute a shot at the net and slam the ball past the computer opponent, imagining his dazed and befuddled look. the gamers of today wouldn’t have the patience, but as a predecessor to the similarly punishing punch-out!! there’s a lot to appreciate. the graphics, like the other early NES releases, are clean and attractive, and although there’s no music during the game, the pong-like sounds are effective. although it lacks a competitive mode the co-op mode is fun, but again, at higher difficulties i imagine it would be supremely frustrating, even if both players were masters of the single-player game.

this is actually only the second tennis video game i’ve spent much time with. the first was wii tenniswhich i quite enjoyed, and so i think i’m going to have to go back and try that game again to see how it compares. nintendo has regularly put out tennis video games for all of their platforms, so it shouldn’t be long before i get my mitts (or should i say, tennis gloves) on another one.

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i don’t know where i heard about the game boy game qix (pronounced “kicks” apparently), but somehow i had gotten it into my head that it would be a fun old-school puzzle-type game. it is indeed one of the earliest GB games, but calling it a “puzzle” game would be fairly misleading: the game is, in fact, really an arcade type of game where you have a single screen and an icon that you move around to draw lines to block off sections of the board. (see the the article at wikipedia for more info on the game’s mechanics.)

i went through a funny progression with the game. when i first started i really couldn’t see the point of it, but once i got used to the premise i was rather enjoying myself, but then fairly soon after that my interest waned to the point where i had to put it aside. in terms of gameplay the central feature that’s so off-putting initially is the fact that you start with a completely empty rectangular board every stage, which makes it hard to feel like you’re making progress. and although the stages supposedly get more challenging as the enemies get faster and become more aggressive, the gameplay itself stays exactly the same and your tactics don’t change at all. of course this is generally true of all classic arcade games, but the main game element that sapped my interest is the fact that you only get the game’s biggest bonus if you “capture” 99% of the screen (75% is the minimum). it’s not too hard to get in the high 90’s every time, but waiting and trying to get 99% every time just gets tedious. it’s like the difference between playing pac-man and gobblin’ some ghosts, and playing pac-man and having to get every single ghost every time. but of course that analogy is only a casual one since in pac-man the difference in score between getting a few ghosts versus getting them all isn’t nearly as huge as the difference in qix between getting 98% of the board completed vs 99%. i’m sure there are many fans of the game out there who find that the thrill of chasing that 99% is central to the game’s fun and who are probably quite good at accomplishing it with the minimal amount of waiting, but i’m just too impatient a gamer to ever hope to join their ranks.

so all in all an entertaining-enough experience, if much more short-lived than i had anticipated. it turns out this is another nintendo R&D1 game, and incidentally it’s the nintendo game boy game that was released immediately after solar striker (well, in japan at least; not sure about elsewhere), which i also recently played. i actually only have a few more of their game boy games to play, so being the completist that i am i’ll probably try to track those down and give ’em a whirl sooner than later. it seems there have been a few qix remakes over the years, some of which may be worth checking out, so i’ll keep my eye out for those as well. maybe. in any case playing the game wasn’t a total loss as there were some highly entertaining mario cameos, including mario in a sombrero, as an african warrior, and as a matador. haha. 😉

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among my many lists of games to play are all the ones by nintendo (hahaha). solar striker is an early game for the original game boy and is notable for several reasons. for one, it’s by nintendo R&D1 (the group that was headed by gunpei yokoi), and for another it still remains nintendo’s only foray into the shoot’-’em-up genre.

i haven’t played all that many shmups, but solar striker is pretty basic. as with my feelings of alleyway there’s a definite sense of the game being several steps behind its NES counterparts, not surprising since this was such an early game boy release. the game makes the most of the hardware, with catchy tunes, great graphics, interesting enemy designs and movement, a satisfying number of bosses and sub-bosses (although the latter are mindlessly easy to beat), decent variety in the level environments, and smooth play control with minimal slowdown.

there are several drawbacks though. since details on the game are scarce online, i’ll go into more detail than usual. first off, the powerup system is quite primitive: you start off only being able to shoot one stream of bullets; the first powerup doubles your number; after two more powerups you can shoot three at a time; and finally after two more powerups you get the best weapon which is twin lasers. there’s a definite sense of improved firepower with each upgrade, but it feels fairly basic. one major improvement, though, is that unlike gradius if you get killed you only get dropped down to your previous weapon instead of having to start from nothing.

1ups are fairly regular and come every 50,000 points, although again the scoring system is very basic and you don’t get any bonuses for hitting a certain number of enemies in a row, even if you defeat every enemy in a stage. enemy patterns are very regular and they’ll always appear at the same part of the screen. also, the pattern of the enemy waves is far too regular: they almost always spawn in columns down the left and right sides of the screen, either alternating or simultaneously. the patterns are so predictable that even though enemies have interesting movements the differences never really affect much of the actual gameplay since you can defeat them so easily.

my main problem with the game, though, is that there’s a sudden spike of difficulty, namely the boss at level 4. the lack of continues makes beating that boss a huge pain, but the rest of the game is pretty straightforward and the last boss is easy to beat. there are 6 stages total, and the game has a hard mode that you can access after you beat the game that as far as i can tell features the same waves of enemies just with more bullets. in most cases the boss fights feel the same in hard mode, although some are made only marginally more difficult. an interesting part of the game is that all (?) the bosses have a “safe zone”; if you position your ship there you’ll completely avoid getting hit. i’m not completely sure, but it looks like for the first three boss battles if you wait in that zone the boss will leave and you’ll be able to continue on to the next stage. it looks like in the fourth level even though there’s a safe zone you can’t skip past the boss, and i’m guessing the same is true for the fifth (and of course the last) stage as well.

all in all an interesting footnote in nintendo history, but a game that’s likely to “dwell in obscurity”, as they say. worth a quick runthrough, but unfortunately not a keeper.